A Brief Introduction To Gothic Horror

So here we are returning from Christmas holidays and starting our new project, Gothic Horror!! This unit will involve looking at the cosmetics, make up style, and fashion of the Victorian era and of course Gothic Horror itself, as a genre of literature also referred to as Gothic Fiction.

For anyone who may come across this blog who may be unsure of what Gothic Horror entails I will endeavor to explain... Gothic Horror/Fiction is often based on themes such as terror/fear and romanticism. The stories often involve plots such as murder or hauntings, and include a wide range of evil villains, femme fatales, demons and malevolent fictitious creatures such as Vampires, Warewolves, Ghosts, or Monsters.

Also as our homework over the Christmas holidays we have been instructed to read the novel Great Expectations by Victorian author Charles Dickens, who is said to have been influenced by Gothic Horror literature which he enjoyed reading as a teen. Due to this he often created stories set in dreary, dark, places to create a certain gothic/mysterious ambiance whilst incorporating Gothic inspired characters in his novels.

Some very famous Gothic horror titles include Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818), Dracula by Bram Stoker written in (1897) The tell tale heart by Edgar Allen Poe (1843) and The strange case of Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson in (1886)

So the question arises, why was Gothic horror such a popular genre with the Victorians?
Well, it is well documented that as a society, they were particularly supersticious, especially surrounding the subject of death. In fact Victorians were actually facsinated with death...
Death on the whole, but particularly premature death, was a much more common occurrence during the Victorian era in comparison with the mortality rates of today, mosrtly due to diseases and poverty.  HOWEVER.. Significant improvements in the standards of living compared with previous years such as having proper sewage and waste disposal, people eating a more varied and nutritional diet and improving medical procedures meant that mortality rates were actually decreasing compared to previous years.

So why were the Victorians were so obsessed with death? One very likely possibility that their rituals and superstitions may have been a grieving mechanism helping many of them to cope with the loss of loved ones, another may be the result of  the Victorian era being a period of major transition and an era for change.
Developments during this time included; Medical advancements, although very primative by today's standards medical science was evolving more swiftly than ever before. This, along with vast improvements in technology regarding engineering and transport and a major increase in immigration.

It was this surge in immigration of course would have most likely prompted one of the most significant changes surrounding the subject of death, with the introduction of "new" and unfamiliar religieons offering their own perspective of what happens when we come to pass.
Therefore many Victorians felt unsettled and attempted to cling on firmly to their own beliefs as they would have felt familiar and comfortable rather than to accept alternative theories.

References

Bbc.co.uk, (2015). BBC - History - Charles Dickens. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/dickens_charles.shtml [Accessed 15 Jan. 2015].

Princeton.edu, (2015). Gothic fiction. [online] Available at: http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Gothic_fiction.html [Accessed 15 Jan. 2015].

Carroll, S. (2012). The Unhinged Historian: Why Were Victorians Obsessed with Death?. [online] Unhingedhistorian.blogspot.co.uk. Available at: http://unhingedhistorian.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/why-were-victorians-obsessed-with-death.html [Accessed 16 Jan. 2015].

Friends of Oak Grove Cemetery, (2008). Victorian Funeral Customs and Superstitions. [online] Available at: http://friendsofoakgrovecemetery.org/victorian-funeral-customs-fears-and-superstitions/ [Accessed 16 Jan. 2015].